Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has heaped praise on greenhorn batter Yashasvi Jaiswal after the visitors registered a massive win of an innings and 141 runs against West Indies at Windsor Park, Dominica on Saturday. Jaiswal, who was making his Test debut, was able to hit the ground running at the top level.
The left-hander grabbed his opportunity to open the innings with Rohit Sharma, adding a fine opening alliance of 229 runs. Jaiswal went on to score 171 runs, the third highest by an Indian on debut, to kickstart his Test career on a high.
The southpaw scored 16 fours and one six in his brilliant knock as he batted at the top of his game. In fact, Jaiswal showed all the patience in his marathon knock as he faced a total of 387 balls, the most by an Indian batter on Test debut.
Rohit Sharma, who observed Jaiswal from close quarters during their exemplary opening partnership, said in the post-match presentation, “He has the talent, he has shown us in the past that he is ready. Came and batted sensibly. The temperament was also tested, at no stage was he panicking. The chats we had were to remind him that ‘you belong here. You have done the hard yards, enjoy your time here’.”
On the other hand, Ravichandran Ashwin was brilliant in spin-friendly conditions. Ashwin returned with a total of 12 wickets, coming up with 5-60 in the first innings and then had 7-71 in the second innings. Furthermore, Ravindra Jadeja took a total of five wickets in the opening Test. Ergo, the veteran duo dominated against the West Indies batters.
Speaking on the duo performance, “The results speak for themselves, they have been doing it for a while. There isn’t much to tell them, it is about giving them the freedom to express. The experience these guys have on pitches like this is always a luxury. Both Ash and Jadeja were superb, especially Ashwin for coming out and bowling this way was class.”
He added, “Always nice to start well, it is a fresh cycle. We weren’t too worried about the pitch, we wanted to come here and get results. Important to start well, now about taking that momentum into the 2nd Test. There are a couple of new guys and people who haven’t had much Test cricket, so just about getting them out on the field now.”
The second Test match will be played from 20th July at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
